The Orphan That Spoke
by emmydisney17
Summary: Co-authored by me and Joei Write. When it looks like they won't have enough food for this year's winter, Surly and Buddy plan to raid a building known as a mall and steal all the food for the park. Then they discover Hayden, a little girl who can talk to animals and Surly plans to use her in the heist. However soon the squirrel starts to develope something new; true love for Hayden
1. Chapter 1

**The Orphan That Spoke**

**By Emilydisney17 and Joei Write**

**Chapter one**

It all began one bright and sunny day. People in the city of Oakton were busy minding their own business as they went to work, took walks or had picnics in the park. Our story is based in that very park, known as Liberty Park and it was not about the people that were visiting today, but of the animals that lived in it. More particularly, a purple squirrel named Surly.

Surly had just returned from the city to pay a visit to his park home. He and his best friend, a blue rat who didn't talk much named Buddy, had been out scoping for more places to find nuts and steal them away to use for the park's food supply, but so far they had no such luck. The purple squirrel was lost in his own thoughts as he tried to figure out what to tell the park's new leader, the beautiful and devoted red squirrel Andie, about how rotten his luck at finding food had been.

He was picturing himself with the park animals practically pulling his tail off and eating it for winter in case the food supply ran out so suddenly when he spied a bunch of collage students studying exams and having a picnic with their projects before the table along with their lunch. Seeing the basket with food in it gave Surly an idea.

He sniffed the air to make sure he wasn't going nuts with the wavering aroma of food the basket and swiftly spun around to see Buddy. Surly brought his paw up to his face and made a quick motion with his fingers, gesturing for his rodent companion to circle around the basket. Buddy understood the signal and dashed behind a bush near the basket. He then dove out of the shrub and curled up against the side of the lightweight container. The minuscule rat peered around the rim of the woodwork and eyed the dozen collage students.

"Come on Buddy," Surly said to himself as he watched from the tree they had spied the basket from "You can do it." He sat impatiently and waited for one of the students to reach for the basket. That would be Buddy's cue.

Before his eyes, one of the pupils got up from her seat and made her way towards the basket. Surly grinned evilly, A girl would be much easier to scare then a guy. They always shrieked at the sight of rodents, this shouldn't be any different. He pressed his paws together before he closed his eyes and plugged his ears.

A deafening scream shattered the still park atmosphere and soon the stampeding of footprints was heard. Surly eyes popped open and saw the students bolting away from their picnic. Screaming for bloody murder as if a psycho was after them and shouting insults at his friend in a mindless babble of language. He tucked in his tail and ran head first fown the tree and promptly walked over to Buddy, who was proudly sitting on top of the picnic basket.

"HAHA! Oh man that was rich! It works every time! We should do this more often, what a riot!" Surly said as Buddy pulled out a bag of pretzels and handed them to his friend. Surly opened the bag and ate one. It was salty and crunchy but not half bad. He gave one to Buddy to eat and he smiled as he licked his lips. After taking a good look inside the basket they were disappointed that there were no nuts inside, but the food they had pillaged turned out to taste just as rewarding as a lifetime supply of nuts. Now for sure he had something that would make the park proud of him and Buddy.

"Who would've thought that getting food for the park would be so easy?" Surly asked Buddy "If we had known how good this stuff tasted, we would've started robbing humans of their food years ago! Now how are we going to get this basket to the old mill?" Buddy tapped his friend's shoulder and the squirrel looked at where his rat friend's paw was pointing at; a series of small hand made cars the students were working on before they abandoned the picnic. Surly and Buddy smiled at each other and got an idea. Soon they were pushing the basket down the path to the old mill where the winter food was stored with the wheels below the basket. "Buddy this is probably the greatest idea we've ever had!" Surly said as they steadily wheeled the basket along.

Once they arrived at the mill Surly tallied up the food that he had fathered that day, along with the basket he'd nearly filled the mill's stock up to halfway. "Ah," Surly groaned "That'll never be enough to feed the entire park for the winter. Even with this basket were still short. We gotta find something else to feed the park. Maybe we could pay the nut shop a little visit, They've never let us down before right?"

He turned around and looked to the other side of the basket and saw Buddy as he pushed the basket into the pile before he shrugged and Surlly was too worried to be angry or offended. Now what was he going to do?

Once they left they left the mill swarms of animals burst from the side and crowded them "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Surly yelled at them as they shot a million questions at him.

"Surly, how did it go?"

"Did you get more food?"

"How much do we have now?"

"Will it be enough?"

The voices tore through Surly's ears and he hollered "STOP!"

The animals stopped as suddenly as he shouted. Surly was a bit surprised at first but then he recovered and said "Well, I've got good news and bad news. Good news is that we found some human food we can use to last for winter."

The animals cheered.

"The bad news is…" Surly said as he toyed with his paws with a frown on his face "It's _only_ enough until the middle of winter."

The declaration made the animals stop and exchanged worried looks on their faces and at the purple squirrel.

"But, don't worry!" Surly quickly said "There's always the nut shop! It'll be like before and…"

"Only with won't be, not this time." Piped up a voice from the crowd; It was mole, Andie's second hand who came out of the crowd along with Andie herself. "The pigeons have just informed me and Miss Andie that the owner of the store and the dog are going away on vacation and that the entire place will be on lock down with one of those brand new security systems. They won't be back for a whole month."

"A MONTH?!" Surly cried in alarm as the other animals gasp in alarm. "We can't wait a whole month for those nuts! Winter is coming early this year and we're still not ready and by the time they get back we'll probably be frozen stiff and half starved!"

"Calm down Surly." Andie said "Snow hasn't fallen yet and there are other nut stores out there somewhere we can raid."

"She's right?" Mole said "What about we sent Grayson out to help?"

"You kidding me? After he botched up the first nut gathering of summer assignment we gave him?" Surly asked "He tried tackling those human security things and he and his team ended up looking like furless rats! Remember that everybody? Do you guys want to end up in the nude too? Do you?! And need I remind you how long it took for Grayson's fur to grow back?"

"Ok, granted the security was more… dangerous then we thought," Andie said "But I believe we still have a chance for us to gather enough food we need as long as we work together and search as hard as we can."

Surly looked at the red squirrel and saw compassion in her eyes but also a hint of worry, she had ment what she said but she was having a bit of a hard time believing it herself.

That was what he needed to keep his spirit up. There was no way he was going to turn her down now. "If you say so Andie." He said and he turned to Buddy saying "Let's go Buddy, we gotta find more food." And they were off before anyone else had said another word to them.

"Good luck guys." Andie said softly.

They jumped about through the city, over rooftops and down alleyways, but they couldn't find any good clean food. They'd found banquets in trash cans, but that was food only suitable for rats and other vermin. The park needed, and deserved, better.

Surly scaled a building and looked around, scanning everything he saw until his eyes spotted a large square building in the distance. He didn't recognize the building but he could detect the faint scent of food drifting over from it. He gestured Buddy to fallow him and they were off in the direction of the building.

They nearly got hit by several cars as they crossed the road to it but whatever that building was it was sure popular with humans and Surly figured that with this much humans there has to be that much food around too!

Once Surly and Buddy saw the food section they knew they had hit the jackpot! But there was one little problem; with all these humans around how were they going to get in and steal all the food for the park to survive winter before they could notice? They needed to get rid of them. But first they had to find a way inside the building.

First they tried to enter through the air vents, but a powerful gust of air blew them out.

Second they tried to sneak in with the garbage cans but they got garbage dumped on themselves.

Third they tried to fly in and out but they kept hitting the windows or doors until their kite wings were destroyed.

Finally they tried to break in while the humans were loading toys into the mall but security found them and whacked them out with a broom.

"This isn't working." Surly said as he rubbed his aching rear. That human that had gotten rid of him and Buddy sure knew how to use a broom "We've gotta figure out something else; Something clever, something crafty, something that those humans would never see coming… But I don't think we're going to find that thing around here Buddy."

Buddy nodded, and held his head since that last attempt gave him a pounding headache.

"Hey!" Surly said "Let's head back home, maybe the bruisers can dig another hole, then we'd be in the clear."

They continued back over the rooftops and through allies and scampered down some metal flights of stairs. They made their way back down to the ground and Buddy lowered his ears in worry about breaking into the mall.

"I know Buddy," Surly said, noticing the look on his friend's face "This won't be anything like that heist at the nut shop. This will be bigger, daring and even more dangerous. We'll have to be at our A game if we're going to pull this off."

CLANG!

Surly and Buddy yelped when they heard a clanking sound breaking the privacy of the pair and both rodents turned to notice a little girl by the entrance of the alleyway. She seemed young, couldn't be any older then ten and they watched the fresh tears that ran down her face from her nearly swollen eyes.

They also noticed that the child was dirty with stuff you'd find in a trash can, her long black hair was oily, her blue dress was covered in grime and her black and white shoes were coated with mud. She sat down in the shade of the ally, continuing to cry as she rubbed her stomach, which was growling very loudly. She was in such a state of misery that Buddy couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Sure his kind hated humans but Buddy had what those creatures did not; a heart of gold. It was a quality that made the rat motion towards his friend, begging him to help her.

"What? You wanna help her?" Surly asked "Aren't you forgetting something pal? When was the last time a human ever helped us? And I mean actually helped us by shoving food into our mill huh?"

Surly didn't know it but his voice attracted her and she crawled towards them "I mean, come on, humans don't just waltz right up to us and happily say 'Hi, how are you? Nice to see you, mind if I share my food with you?"

"Well, I would if I had any." The girl said


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two**

It took a moment for Surly and Buddy to Acknowledge what had happened but the second they realized it they're heartbeats revved up like race cars. Before them sat a seemingly regular girl, pouty and tarnished but yet, thought some remarkable or freaky twist of fate or something, she was able to understand everything that they were saying. Surly felt his tail puff up like he'd been struck by lightning and he felt his paws tremble a bit. His pupils grew wider as he faced the little girl that had spoken to them. He was so awestruck that he didn't even bother to look at Buddy and see that he was doing, for he could greatly assume that Buddy was busy having the same reaction he was.

"You," The words were like augmented pieces of coal from a smiting fire in his mouth "You can understand us?" As he said that Surly felt each syllable burn his tounge.

"Yes, Yes I can." The little girl said "While some people doesn't understand you, say all they hear is chirping and squeaking, I can hear you speak English perfectly."

Buddy near floated towards the girl and he placed his head on her bent knee. She raised a hand and gently petted the little rat's head. "Hey there little guy, I'm Hayden." The child said.

This was almost too impossible to be real. Surly knew he had to make sure he wasn't dreaming the whole thing. He ran over to the nearest puddle of water he could find and jumped into it, splashing cold liquid on his face and everywhere else, shivering up a storm before he shook himself dry and he sighed before he walked back to Hayden and he said "Ok, now, let's start again." Then he yelled, making her flinch "DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE WORDS THAT ARE COMING OUT OF MY BUCK TEETHED MOUTH?!"

"Yes, and you didn't have to yell. I can hear you just fine." Hayden said as she sat down

"But… how… how can… when…" Surly stammered

"Since always I guess." Hayden said "I was born with this ability… but it made me different. Kinda made me… an outcast."

Her stomach growled very loudly again, briefly startling Buddy as he backed away a bit and Hayden rubbed her middle saying "Sorry, I'm just really hungry. I haven't been able to find anything to eat for a long time."

"You're not going to start thinking about eating us, right?" Surly asked

"No." Hayden said as her stomach let out a very loud rumble that demanded food "But I'd be very happy if you can find me something I can eat. Pretty please?"

"Find you food?" What do you think we look like kid? Caterers?" Surly asked as his spine stiffed. He had only just met this girl and now she was asking them for favors? Even among the animals of the park this was highly absurd. The squirrel watched Hayden sniffle, she didn't seem like she was lying. And she was unquestionably talking to them.

Surly watched as the girl wrapped her arms around herself and shivered a bit. He was about to say something else when then and there Buddy placed a paw on his shoulder. He turned to look at his pesky little friend and saw that the rat was on the verge of tears. Buddy felt an unusual amount of sympathy for this human and it bothered Surly for some reasons he couldn't see to verify. However, even though Surly wasn't very fond of the human girl, he did value Buddy's loyal friendship.

Before he even knew it Surly found himself leaping back up the metal staircases towards an open window he'd seen in the alleyway. The window had a wooden beam that held it open and he assumed that the humans had left it open for ventilation. He stepped inside and scurried onto a marble counter and the air conditioning was rattling as a cold, frosty breeze coursed through his fur, sending goosebumps across his body before he shook it off and looked around.

"Food," he said out loud "Where would humans keep food in a dump like this?"

Buddy whistled and Surly saw him standing over a counter that had a wide selection of food. Surly smiled for a while but now the problem was how was he going to get the good back to the girl outside? Then he had an idea.

When they were sure the coast was clear they stole the nearest meals they could find; which were a blueberry pie, oatmeal cookies and freshly ordered Pizza for the workers in the mall. It was a bit of a challenge to sneak them out by using wooden boards as elevators for the food, mainly the pizza, but together they took the meals back to Hayden and she smiled happily as she took the cookies and gave some to Buddy and Surly. "Thank you, here you go." She said.

"Ah, don't mention it kid." Surly said

As he nibbled his cookie he watched Hayden eat happily and quickly. Suddenly a warm smile appeared on his furry face. It turned out that feeding this human child didn't turn out as bas as he had thought it would be and it… kinda… sorta… made him feel… proud. After she ate Hayden patted her tummy and let out a loud burp, cookie crumbs, blueberry and tomato sauce were still on her mouth as she licked her lips "Excuse me."

"No worries." Surly said "So… what are you doing out here? Don't you have parents waiting for you back home?"

At that Hayden's expression changed into a sad one "Well, actually no… I'm an orphan… and I'm a runaway. Nobody cares about me at the orphanage, they always bully me so I ran away and I'm not going back… of course, now I don't have any place to go to."

Buddy looked at Surly again with the same look he had before, as if begging him to help her once again, and the squirrel gave in and said "Ok Buddy, you don't have to keep flashing those big eyes at me. We're taking her to the mill. She'll be safe there and no human would ever find her in there." Buddy was so happy he hugged his friend and he hugged him back.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

It was easy to say that they would take Hayden to the park so she could stay in the mill so she'd get a place to live. But getting her to the park safely and unnoticed was the hard part. Especially when she was being guided by a squirrel and a rat. Hayden had an idea for them to pass off as her pets but they just found the idea terribly too humiliating to go through so they came up with another plan that just had to work.

With Surly and Buddy hiding in her clothes, Hayden walked out into the open, letting the pair guide her to the park as they took a few peeks from the dress collar to help their directions… and so they could breath fresh air since the girl smelled so badly.

"Ugh," Surly groaned as he held his nose "When was the last time you had a bath kid?"

"Since I ran away from the orphanage." Hayden said

"Whew, ok, when we get to the park the first thing you're going to do is wash, you're killing us in here!" Surly said as he turned to Buddy, who was trying not to puke as his face turned green "This is the worst idea I ever had."

"But you said you'd rather hide in my clothes then ride on my head as pets." Hayden reminded them

"Yeah, and I'm already regretting it." Surly said

But then their luck got worst when a group of dogs came out, snarling and growling and baring their sharp teeth.

"Oh great." Surly groaned

"Uh," Hayden said, skittish and fearfully "What do we do now?"

Surly rubbed his chin quickly, for he wasn't quite sure what to do. The only dog he ever knew was Precious and she was friendly. Then it crossed his mind that if he had a silver whistle like the one he prompted Precious to act nicely he might be able to sway the pack of dogs before them into doing the same thing.

However neither Surly nor Buddy had the means to obtain said device at the current moment, not with the group of feral dogs staring them down.

Surly looked up to see how frightened Hayden was and just like that an idea sparked in his head. It wasn't going to be pretty but it was all he had.

"Okay," Surly prompted "I got this."

He jumped out of Hayden's clothes stared right at the dogs. They were still snarling and saliva was dripping from their ferocious maws. The squirrel felt his feet tremble a bit, and he realized that he was actually afraid of the canines before him… but then he thought of what would've happened if he had ran away, Buddy and Hayden would get severely harmed if one of those dogs sank those teeth into their bodies.

Years ago he would've would've just saved himself and left others to fend for himself… but this time he had to protect Buddy and Hayden so they'd get to the park safely.

With that in mind, and with his heart pounding, Surly got on all four feet and sprinted in the direction of the dogs, and each one came darting at him with snapping jaws. Surly huffed and humped, his hind legs bouncing off the first dog's head and sailing over the rest of their heads. Each pooch spun and looked at Surly with Anger.

"You want some more you dumb mutts?" Asked Surly as he shook his big fluffy tail in a taunting way. The taunt worked and ever dog redirected their attention to Surly, entirely leaving Hayden and Buddy alone.

Surly smiled and knew that from there Buddy would take over and get the kid safely back to the park. Then he shouted "Come and get me!" and ran off.

Hayden watched the squirrel disappeared behind a corner and into an alley. She was about to ran after him but Buddy patted her chest and she stopped quickly.

"We've got to help him, right?" she asked the rat.

Buddy only shook his head and pointed across the street. The park was close and Buddy knew that Surly didn't need any assistance. He'd meet back up with them later.

Hayden felt as if Buddy was telling her not to worry and ran for the park as fast as she could. Meanwhile Surly ran away from the dogs at lightning like speed, swerving, ducking and zigzagging past humans in an attempt to lose the mutts.

He saw a group of kids putting on a magic show and dove right through them and the dogs crashed into them with one of them getting trapped inside a cardboard box.

Next he hopped on top of a woman as she was spraying herself with perfume, making her shriek before the dogs pounced on her to get the squirrel. The dogs missed the squirrel and one of them stayed behind now that his snout was stuffed with perfume.

Finally Surly climbed through a hole in a wooden fence and the dogs ran into it and barked angrily. Surly sighed as he caught his breath and Chuckled "Dumb Dogs, now back to the park."

He climbed up the nearest telephone pole he could find and made his way back to the park. Once he arrived he found Hayden and Buddy waiting for him under the shade of an oak tree and once she saw him Hayden picked up Surly and hugged him happily as she cried "Oh Surly! I'm so glad you didn't get chewed up!"

"Ok kid, I get it, you missed me but you're killing me here!" Surly groaned as he was pressed against the girl's chest.

"Oh, Sorry." Hayden said as she placed him on her shoulder. As he recovered she asked "So, where's the mill?"

Surly got his spine back in line and said "It should be over towards the center of the park. I think you'll like it. I mean, it's got everything a kid could need, right? Food, water, shade, company; you think there's anything else a kid could need?"

Hayden shrugged her shoulders, she didn't know the first thing about child care. Sure she'd been cared for in the orphanage, but she never truly paid attention to anything that was around her. The people working just did their own thing; the only things Hayden did there was eat and sleep.

"I guess," she said "I suppose it'll be nice to meet your friends and families."

Surly's eyes widened at this comment. He didn't have any sort of girl or children waiting for him once he got back to the mill.

"Hey, whoa," he proclaimed "Look, I ain't got no one waiting for me back at the mill. Buddy and I are a team; there isn't anyone else in the equation. You got that?"

Hayden seemed surprised by Surly's reaction. "Really?" She asked "I thought that the two of you would surely have some kind of welcome as soon as you got back."

"Well you'd be wrong, Hayden. We're on our own and we'll like to keep it that way." Surly said with his arms crossed.

"But if you're on your own then how come you're taking me to a park filled with other animals?" Hayden asked as Buddy climbed up and stood on her other shoulder.

"Because, covertly, we gather food for the park; but most of the animals there don't like us." Surly confessed.

"Will they like me?" Hayden asked with a hint of worry in her voice. Buddy gently patted her head and smiled at her. He was sure the park animals would truely adore her. She wasn't like her kind just like him, naturally everyone would love her. They just had to.

"Don't worry kid," Surly said "Just don't get into trouble much and you'll be just fine." he looked ahead and said "There is it, the old mill."

Hayden looked up at the mill and Buddy and Surly climbed off her and up the wooden boards. Hayden tried to do the same but kept falling down. The pair turned to each other and showed her an old door they never used for humans and Hayden went inside. The inside of the mill was broken and old but still pretty sturdy. She found a small flight of stairs and climbed up to the second floor of the mill.

It was wide, had a few other things that no one ever used since it was abandoned and a hole coming out of the roof, letting in the sun shine. "There, you see?" Surly asked "It's wide, cozy, has a roof with a skylight in it, what more could a kid ask for?"

"SURLY!"

Surly yelped when he heard Andie, coming in from out of no where and cournering him without even so much as a hello, saying "What took you so long Surly?! The park animals tried to recover food from humans like you had done but each one's ended as a disaster and you and Buddy vanish and nearly take all day to get back, and..." she then forced herself to calm down and say "So, did you find any more food?"

"Uh well, we did." Surly said "but there was a bit of a snag trying to get even a crumb out. I did bring back something else... but it's nto food related."

"What are you talking about Surly?" Andie asked before she noticed Buddy wasn't with him and turned to find him... and saw him standing right next to a human child!

"Hi! Are you Surly's girlfriend or sister?" Hayden asked

Andie's mouth dropped open with shock before she turned back to the purple squirrel and said "Surly... you... you better have a good explanation for this!"

"Uh... would you believe i'm new to this myself?" Surly asked before he laughed sheepishly and then groaned "Oh boy."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Surly, can I speak to you alone for a moment?" Andie said to him sternly.

Season after season of living in the same park as Andie told Surly that it wasn't easy to make her cross and, somehow, acting kindly towards Hayden managed to anger her. It was a rate sight indeed, and not one that Surly was proud to have created.

Andie grabbed his fluffy cheek and dragged him away from Hayden and outside behind the roots of the tree nearby. As he was pulled away, he gestured towards Hayden to wait a moment and held up one appendage from his paw. Hayden was confused as to what was going on but she just sat quietly and waited on Surly. She had faith that he knew what he was doing.

Once they were at the tree outside the mill Andie let go of Surly's cheek and he immediately rubbed it as he groaned in pain but he had no way of checking to see if it had turned red.

"What was that for Andie?!" Surly exclaimed but tried not to yell as it would alert Hayden

"Look Surly," Andie began, the same level of subsided rage burning from within her eyes "I see what your trying to do here."

Surly's tail puffed at this statement.

"You do?" he asked her

"Yes, and I must say that this is the craziest, dumbest and absolutely terrible scheme you've ever had!" Andie Scolded

"What? What scheme?" Surly asked in confusion.

"Don't play dumb with me Surly, you think that by kidnapping this human child, holding her randsom here in this park and waiting for her parents to pay us in food is going to make you the new hero if the park? Even if it means putting this child's life on the line?!"

At first Surly was speechless but he quickly reacted by saying "Whoa, whoa, whoa! It's not what you think!" First off, I did not kidnap her, I brought her here willingly, without force. Plus it was Buddy's idea. Second, the kid's an orphan we found on the streets, third, I would never put anyone's life on the line. Not even Buddy! And finally, believe it or not, she can talk to us. You know, understand what we're saying."

Andie was taken back by what the dark furred squirrel had said, especially the last part and said "Impossible… no one has… it… it defies everything we were told about."

"If you don't believe me, go back into the mill and ask the kid yourself." Surly said "Just don't expect me to catch you when you faint."

"Alright, I will." Andie said "But if this is a joke…"

"It's not, I'm telling the truth here." Surly said "Go ahead and speak with her, oh, and by the way, he name's Hayden… in case you were wondering."

Andie's nose twitched as she turned away from Surly and ran back to Hayden. Once she returned to the inside of the mill the orphaned girl spun to look at her and Andie felt a short sensation trinkle down her spine. It took her a moment but she realized that she was actually somewhat scared of Hayden. What bothered her the most was that there was no indication of action aginst the girl. There she sat, motionless, and just plainly staring Andie down. It reminded her of the way a hawk glances upon its prey before diving down to sweep it up. Andie huffed and tucked her paws against her chest and as she did this, her ears fell back.

"Hi… Hayden, is it?" I'm Andie. You might day I'm a friend of Surly's." the squirrel said. There the girl sat, and was only staring at her, it was as if she'd no idea what had just been said to her.

'I knew it' thought Andie.

"Andie? Isn't that a boy's name?" Hayden asked.

Andie went stiff and her tail curled up around her body. Her ears perked back up, and her breathing accelerated. "You… you can understand me." She said as she pointed at Hayden in shock and surprise.

"Well Yeah," she said "Surly did tell you I could, he wouldn't lie."

Andie's shock was watered down by disbelief.

"Oh, I wouldn't bet on that, Hayden." Andie said and gestured her paw for Surly to come back over to her.

Surly approucher her and said "I did tell you, didn't I tell you?"

"Yeah, you did." Andie said "Wait… why is she here anyway?"

Surly looked uneasy as he scratched the back of his head "Well, you might not like this but… the kid's going to be staying here and living with us in the old mill."

"WHAT?!" Andie asked in shock.

"It's the only place big enough for her, and besides it's not like she has anywhere else to go. Just look at her." Surly said.

The red squirrel turned and watched as Buddy climbed up on Hayden's shoulder. She smiled at him before he scooped him up with her hand and gently gave his head a kiss. That had won her trust then and there. No human had ever kissed a rat before and from the way Buddy looked as he fell over and curled up in the girl's palm, he enjoyed the kiss as if he had just landed on cloud nine, just like the day the little rat himself was invited to stay at the park when he was but a baby abandoned by his own mother.

Then and there Andie knew she just couldn't say no, and then she said "Alright, she can stay… but somebody's going to have to take care of her."

"Good luck finding someone who'll want to… adopt a pet human." Surly said, ending his sentence in a whisper so Hayden wouldn't hear.

It was quite a while later that Hayden was brought before all the animals in the park. She had been moved into the mill officially by Andie, but it was difficult to conceal her so that she could make her debut in secrecy.

When Andie and Surly finally stepped before the small horde or animals, they were about ready to grasp each other's paws in a case of racked nerves. It was as if they were hooked up to electrical machines and it was sending tiny jolts down their spines.

Andie was especially nervous, as any fault found in the girl would be immediately placed onto her. She gulped, and Surly reached out and squeezed her paw tightly. The red squirrel looked to the purple one, and they nodded in unison. With that Andie stepped forward and faced the other animals.

"I know that you're all wondering why we've called you here on such short notice. We have a good reason, but…"

"Just get on with it!" A random voice from the crowd shouted. Neither Surly nor Andie could pinpoint who the voice belonged to.

"Right, okay then." Andie began again. "Surly and i… have… uh… we…" he thoughts suddenly became jumbled and, where she once was a mighty hawk, she had shrunk down and became a mouse.

"We… um…" Andie wasn't sure what to say. Surly was watching, and he started to tremble along with her. After a brief pause, and a rather awkward silence between the group and the duo, Mole stepped out and spread his arms.

"Congratulations on the engagement!" he cried and all the animals cheered and clapped.

"Right… wait… what!?" Andie and Surly both yelled in shock.

Andie and Surly didn't know why Mole ever suggested them being engaged but the next thing they knew they were surrounded with animals from all sides while Hayden hid in the shadows, waiting for Andie and Surly to call her.

"Surly, you sly dog you!" a chipmunk said "Who knew you had it in you?"

"Andie, what were your first thoughts when he proposed to you?" Asked an eager mouse.

"When are you two getting hitched?" A groundhog asked "Tomorrow? Next week? Next month? Is next Tuesday too soon?"

"Wait a minute!" Surly exclaimed as he tried to explain, but the animals were too much. "We're not… this isn't what… it's not what you think! Buddy, help me out of here!"

Buddy clapped his hands and grinned happily.

"Not that kind of help!" Surly said as he kept pushing animals away from himself and Andie "The Kid! The Kid!"

Buddy yelped and ran into the shadows to fetch Hayden. Surly and Andie were too busy to care if the animals were ready for their surprising new resident but they were sure the animals would love them, and officially forget about the whole 'engagement' mess.

Buddy was quick to pull on Hayden's foot, urging her to move out into the light. Her arrival would stop the madness, and finally get her introduction over with. However, she was not as excited as she hoped she would be, and the more Buddy tugged, the more she found herself resisting and second guessing herself.

"I don't know about this Buddy." She said down to him, but Buddy only rolled his eyes and pointed out to the ruckus that was happening. Hayden knew that she had the power within her to stop it, but she was also worried that the animals would change the mob from Surly and Andie to her. Buddy tried his best to try and convince Hayden to do the right thing, but ultimately the decision was hers alone.

Hayden through she'd try to step out a little, to see if anyone would notice, but the second a measly fraction of sunlight shoned on her face, Surly yanked his arm out of the crowd and yelled, "Everyone… meet out friend, Hayden!"

Only two animals looked when Surly yelled, but their motionlessness eventually led to the other animals turning to look. Two became eight, eight became twelve and soon every animal present was facing in Hayden's direction. Many of them remained still, jaws dropped. There hadn't been a human inside the mill since it closed down, and ever animal present was speechless as far as what to say, how to react, even what they should do next. Hayden stood still as she could, and sheepishly fluttered a few of her fingers and peeped, "Hi…"

The animals were stunned by this and were about to freak out when Andie said "No, don't be afraid! She's harmless, and she's our new residence and… well, she's special because of one reason and one reason alone… she can understand what we're saying!"

The animals gasped, forgetting all about the engagement and now focusing about what their new leader had told them. How could it be possible for a human to understand them? Was this a prank? Was their leader losing it?

"Well, I know it sounds crazy but it's true!" Surly said, "Me and Buddy heard it clear as day! If you don't believe me, why don't you come up and talk to her about something?"

There was an ominous silence before a voice said "I'll do it!"

It was one of the Bruisers, Jimmy Groundhog. He pushed his way pash the animals and marched up to Hayden as he said "There's been one question I've always been meaning to ask a human." He looked at Hayden in the eye and said "Ok human, answer my question: How do humans bathe? I've always seen some humans lick their mouths clean after they eat, but do they lick the rest of themselves?"

"No we don't, that's just gross!" Hayden exclaimed in disgust. Surly sighed in annoyance; such a typical question from one of the Bruisers.

"Oh really, cause i…" Jimmy's eyes bulged out when he realized he was talking to Hayden and yelped before he nearly fell over, but Hayden caught him and held him as she said "And don't worry about me, I promise I won't be much trouble. I promise I'll help you in any way I can."

The other animals could barely believe what it was that they were listening to. There was a live human being standing in their presence, speaking to them on equal terms as species! It was nearly too hard for them to believe. What was more difficult through was that Hayden soon found herself being bombarded with questions upon question of all different kinds about being human. The birds wanted to know what human food tasted like, the chipmunks wanted to know where humans sleep, Grayson asked if there were any humans as awesome as he was and Mole was asking how humans walk about in the daylight without getting blinded by sunlight.

Through all of this, it was apparent that Hayden was in no short of dangerous, but rather, simple bewilderment. In the midst of this Surly grabbed Andie's paw, and while she initially didn't know what was happening, she soon found herself standing in a dark corner of the mill with Surly in front of her. She came to, and crossed her arms again. Somehow, she knew that this was the part where Surly told her his 'master plan'.

"Alright, here's what I'm thinking," he began strongly "There's this giant building a few blocks from here. I think the humans call it a mall. And get this, it's just loaded with food! If you thought the nut joint could feed the park for years, then this place could feed it for decades." Andie liked the idea but she was skeptical, so she withheld her enthusiasm.

"Okay Surly, do you have a plan to get at this? Or better yet, how to get it all back to the park?"

"That won't be necessary Andie," Surly retaliated with "I admit there is way too much food to move all at once, so all we need to do is get the kid to sneak us in, grab enough, have her sneak us out, and then rinse and repeat. Like Autumn, like Winter…" Surly had a sly grin painted on his face while Andie had been impressed with the simplicity, yet authentic-sounding reverence of the plan, she detected one flaw.

"Seems solid, but does Hayden know that you're using her?" She asked

"Using her? That's an ugly word, don't you think? I prefer… ignorant assistance…" the purple squirrel said. There were fingers slowly coiling around Surly's waist, and before he knew it, Hayden had scooped him up and planted a smooch on his head. Surly wriggled out of her hands, and then plopped down near Andie and aggressively wiped off the fur on his head. "Hey kid!" he cried in annoyance "What was that for?"

But the human girl only gave him a sweet smile. "I was just thanking you is all."

The words took a moment to register in Surly's mind "Huh? You're thanking me? For what?"

"For the new home; I owe it all to you Surly." And with that she happily skipped off.

Andie cut in front of Surly as he stared at the back of Hayden's figure as she slowly moved away to continue mingling with the other animals in the mill. She perched herself onto two legs and tuck up her tail behind her. The devious squirrel looked as her, and what he received was only a smirk. "Surly, I'm starting to think the only ignorant one around here is you." And she scurried off.


End file.
